In 2015, I went a whole year of not buying anything outside of essential needs for myself. That meant no clothing, no shoes, no cosmetics, no perfumes, no jewelry, you get the point, I only bought the basic needs.

The intention was to understand my needs vs my wants and the impact that consumerism had on my life.

The steps I took when I would go to buy something for myself was that I would stop and ask

"Do I need this?" which lead to the next question

"Why am I buying this" to the next

"What is bothering me?"

By doing this process, it allowed me to do some significant introspection and find the root of things. See, purchasing something new gives a sensation of satisfaction. Yet if you go further into this feeling that has you wanting to buy, you can uncover what is impacting your decision making.

In the beginning, I required a lot of time to process these intense feelings that would come up. I had to slow things down to create patience with accepting what I was feeling so I could listen and expand understanding. I saw that previously when I would purchase something, it would give a numbing to these intense feeling that was coming up creating a suppression which became the addiction to buying to avoid feeling. Let me tell you sales were a significant challenge for me as I have a definition of being frugal and justifying why it was okay to buy it. Those experiences of sales allowed me to have a better understanding of consumerism and the different aspects it uses emotions to spark buying.

In this whole process, I discovered I had several inner wounds that needed attention. These wounds had created a type of malignancy in how I interpreted myself and the world that created a misidentification for myself. This detox brought some intense moment as feelings needed to be released and let go; I became aware of how easy it was to numb rather than feel in honesty.

That year allowed me to see how little I needed and how many things I had defined as needs were mere wants. I also came to understand consumerism and the way it impacts my life as well as society.